Author: Ms. R.

For Women’s History Month, Atlas Obscura delves into the world of espionage, where being overlooked and underestimated has been an asset for centuries of women spies. Read about more of history’s hidden Secret Agent Women. For a spy, Marguerite Harrison was remarkably forthright. In fall 1919, when the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Division asked her to go to Russia to gather information on Vladmir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party, the 40-year-old Baltimore Sun journalist first asked Russia for permission……

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A mere hour or so away from the concrete jungle of Rio de Janeiro is a verdant rainforest reserve that is notable for being the last stronghold of one of the most endangered primates on earth: the dazzling little golden lion tamarin. The golden lion tamarin is a species endemic to the state of Rio, meaning that it’s the only place in the world these animals can be found in their native habitat. They inhabit the Atlantic Forest and……

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Kenmure Castle is a ruined old castle balanced atop of a partially natural, rocky hill and once defended by the surrounding marshy grounds below. The site has been occupied since the early Middle Ages. The Lords of Galloway were rulers of a semi-independent kingdom here in southwest Scotland until the 13th-century. There may have also been a fort located in the area.  Kenmure is considered the possible birthplace of John Balliol, born in 1249, who went on to become……

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In 1869, a vacationing doctor named William Gaskins Pool was called to help an ill old woman named Polly Mann, who lived in a shack near Nags Head, Carolina. When he and his daughter, Anna, gingerly entered the dark, cobweb-covered home, they were drawn to a picture on the wall, Anna remembered, “of a beautiful young woman about twenty-five years of age.” After extensively questioning Polly about the painting, Dr. Pool believed his initial hunch was correct. He was……

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Deep in the heart of Appalachia, a town that straddles the border of Tennessee and Virginia claims to be the true birthplace of country music. Bristol‘s Birthplace of Country Music Museum preserves this unsung legacy alongside memorabilia and other artifacts from some of the most influential musicians in the industry.  The museum tells the story of the Bristol Sessions. In 1927, a record producer named Ralph Peer set up shop in Bristol. During the summer of that year, Peer……

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Tucked in a sunny corner of Paradise Valley is a stellar example of stained-glass art. In fact, one might argue that the beauty of the Kilgore Chapel’s windows eclipses all other cathedral glass. Designed by noted NASA artist Robert McCall and his wife Louise for the Valley Presbyterian Church, the 35,000 piece mosaic fills a 350-degree space with an atmosphere of heavenly radiance. Dedicated in 1984, the eight encircling panels of this installation took three years to complete, and……

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At the beginning of the 20th-century, the United States had a problem—a “small house problem.” There was a lack of affordable, single-family homes for middle-class families. Enter architect John Joseph Earley. Just outside of Washington, D.C., between 1934 and 1935, Earley designed and built five Art Deco homes. Earley felt a strong need for what he called “social justice” after the Great Depression. He hoped his patented design would provide an avenue to affordable housing that would fit modest……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the Elephant Clock, a replica of an ancient invention that sits in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, surrounded by the likes of The Gap and H&M. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet……

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In 1991, provocative Czech artist David Černý painted the Monument to Soviet Tank Crews, a memorial at Prague’s Náměstí Kinských (Kinský Square) that for many represented the tank-led Soviet invasion of the country that crushed Prague Spring in 1968. For this radical act of art, he chose a shade of bubblegum pink. Černý was arrested for the act and the paint was removed, but the tank was painted pink a second time by members of the Czech parliament in……

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While it’s located just blocks away from the Pacific Ocean, when visitors step into Yiddishland, they are immersed in traditional Yiddish culture.  Yiddishland California is the physical home of the Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA), whose mission is to preserve and advance Yiddish language and culture within the U.S. and beyond. While La Jolla experienced a spate of housing discrimination against Jews from the 1920s to the 1960s, Yiddishland now functions as a Jewish cultural……

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An elephantine natural feature out on public land in the Nevada desert, with no interpretive signs or entry fees. It’s nonetheless surprisingly big to be so little known. Although the arch occurs in the (misnamed) Lava Beds, it’s in fact in fractured, weathered granite, which forms all the bedrock in the area. …

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The gleaming black greyhound statue has been guarding the porch of the house at 108 West Church Street for over 150 years. But according to local history, it was almost turned into ammo during the Civil War. The cast iron canine was crafted in 1839 by an American artist living in Florence, Italy, and reportedly modeled after a marble statue. The life-sized replica made its way to Frederick, Maryland, and belonged to Dr. John Tyler, an opthalmologist who lived……

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